Beware the Frozen Heart

The Book

I walk up to my personal study. I haven't been in there since Hans' arrival. I don't ever have the time or the room in my brain for anymore thoughts. I close the door and sit at my desk. I search for my shelves for nothing in particular. My fingertips brush over the many textures of the spines of my books, skinny and thick. They stop on a particularly interesting book. I put my fingers on the top of the book and pull it off the shelf a little so I can read the title. I let my eyes scan over the title, The Thirteen Kingdoms. I pull the book of the shelf and take the book to my desk.

I open it to the first page and skim over it.

Their kingdom was in debt. Soon it would fade into nothing.

Greedy king.

Thirteen sons.

One daughter.

A plan to not only save their kingdom, but make it grow.

Not one heir.

Each had their own kingdom.

The king left this prophecy as his death wish.

Each son entrusted the other to keep their system moving.

I slammed the book shut, my heart beat racing. I let everything that had caught my eye bounce around in my skull. I sit back in my chair and stare at the book. I want to read it, to find out more, but I can't bring myself to do so. I take the book and go into my room. I set it on my vanity and look in the mirror for a long time.

My eyes are filled with emotions I don't even know how to express. That's all I concentrate on, my eyes; my emotions. I watch the corners of my mirror freeze at the edges, and I look away as fear mixes in with the other emotions.

I leave my room, grabbing the book from my vanity, and search for Hans. I find him downstairs in the sitting room. He stares into the fire and has a thinking expression planted on his face. I quietly walk in the room and sit next to him on the couch. He turns his head towards me when he feels the couch shift as I sit down.

"I'm sorry about Fredrik." I whisper.

"He doesn't matter." Hans replies, looking at me.

"Can I ask you a question?" I wonder, looking at the book, which is text to me, out of Hans' sight for now.

"Sure, anything." He replies, taking my hands in his.

"Can you tell me about why your brother's forced you to come here?" I inquire.

He sighs and turns to face me more, then nods.

"Well, I have my twelve older brothers, well had. I also had a twin sister, but, as I told you before, they killed her. When I was little, my sister and I always stuck together, as we were the youngest. My older brothers always got everything, and when I was little, everything wasn't much. The Southern Isles weren't wealthy at the time. It was a poor kingdom due to the overspending of my father. It even caused our mother to flee with another king in a neighboring kingdom, as my father's greed was consuming him. When my father was dying, he announced his death wish. He told us, if we never completed his wish, then his death would be in vain. He told my brothers and me that we were to each rule a kingdom to regain the wealth of his kingdom. My eldest brother, Gustav, was to rule the throne of my father's kingdom and the rest of us were to marry into the throne in another kingdom. Once that happened, we were supposed to create one large empire. Gustav, Fredrik, Henrik, and Elias were the most serious about my father's wish. They went to the extreme of killing my sister just to get your kingdom. That's the only reason I ever tried to hurt you or Anna. I didn't ever want to hurt you. It's just, harming someone I didn't know seemed like the easy way out to save my sister's life. I even tried to let you go once you were in the dungeon, but my brother's wouldn't let me. Elsa, all I can ask is your forgiveness." He explains to me dourly, his face grim and his eyes clouded with bad memories.